Walking out our Faith
Heb 13:1-19 Continue to love each other. (2) Don\’t forget to show hospitality to believers you don\’t know. By doing this some believers have shown hospitality to angels without being aware of it. (3) Remember those in prison as if you were in prison with them. Remember those who are mistreated as if you were being mistreated. (4) Marriage is honorable in every way, so husbands and wives should be faithful to each other. God will judge those who commit sexual sins, especially those who commit adultery. (5) Don\’t love money. Be happy with what you have because God has said, \”I will never abandon you or leave you.\” (6) So we can confidently say, \”The Lord is my helper. I will not be afraid. What can mortals do to me?\” (7) Remember your leaders who have spoken God\’s word to you. Think about how their lives turned out, and imitate their faith. (8) Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (9) Don\’t get carried away by all kinds of unfamiliar teachings. Gaining inner strength from God\’s kindness is good for us. This strength does not come from following rules about food, rules that don\’t help those who follow them. (10) Those who serve at the tent have no right to eat what is sacrificed at our altar. (11) The chief priest brings the blood of animals into the holy place as an offering for sin. But the bodies of those animals were burned outside the Israelite camp. (12) That is why Jesus suffered outside the gates of Jerusalem. He suffered to make the people holy with his own blood. (13) So we must go to him outside the camp and endure the insults he endured. (14) We don\’t have a permanent city here on earth, but we are looking for the city that we will have in the future. (15) Through Jesus we should always bring God a sacrifice of praise, that is, words that acknowledge him. (16) Don\’t forget to do good things for others and to share what you have with them. These are the kinds of sacrifices that please God.
Paul the Apostle, often gave the saints reminders of what it means to walk out our faith. The words spoken and written by Paul were inspired by Holy Spirit and those words are still relevant today. Below is what we should be doing as believers. This is not an all inclusive list but gives some clarity to our unified purpose in Christ.
Walking Out our Faith:
1. Continue to love each other: Paul writes this letter to believers and gives them one of Jesus’s greatest two commandments. Simply love each other or your neighbor. The Greek word for love in this context is Philadelphia which means strong brotherly love or bond. One common theme in God’s word is that believers need each other and our love for each other should be out of this world.
2. Don’t forget to show hospitality: Believers should be the best care givers and hospitable people in the world. Does this mean each time you walk past a homeless person you should give him or her money? Hospitality is more than giving a stranger a few dollar bills. It is share what you have from your abundance or from your lack. It is about having a giving spirit and demonstrating Christ’s compassion to the world.
3. Remember those in prison: I never forget visiting a prison in the Philippines. It was a sad sight to see. The prison was over crowded and the conditions were 10 times worse than the American prisons. In fact the prison I visit made the American prisons look like a Ritz Carlson. Society locks convicts up and throws them away. Believers should help, in some what, with ministry in the prisons. Society has the ability to throw convicts away but God still has a purpose for him.
4. Remember the mistreated: Who are the mistreated? Any person suffering through adversity or ill-will. Anybody whose life is in a shambles and needs a hand up not a hand out. Christians love to give hand outs because it is easy and less messy. Giving people a hand up requires more work and devotion to the cause.
5. Marriage is honorable: It is not by mistake that marriage is mentioned in the middle of this list. Christian marriage is the greatest witnessing tool to the world. We demonstrate Jesus’ relationship with the church. If we don’t have honorable and caring marriages then our testimony to the world becomes weak and of no affect. Christian marriages are prophetic utterances to the world and to what is to come.
6. Don’t love money: The love of money is truly the root to all evil. It seems like the more I make the more I have to worry about. We should be careful on how and what we pursue in life. The Law of too much takes effect on many believers. Having too much can distract believers from their true purpose. It does not mean you can not have things but things can’t have you. Having too much gives us a false hope and can remove our complete trust in the Lord, who is our provider and keeper of life.
7. Remember the Godly Leaders in your life: This scripture is very clear. Remember those Godly leaders who have poured out their heart and soul for the people of God. This excludes those leaders who are in the ministry for themselves. The writer was referring to leaders who have visibly given up all to lead God’s people down the right path. These leaders were to be imitated and honored.
8. Don’t get carried away by false teachings: False teaching are every where today. The false teaching are not in the occult or belief systems other than Christianity. False teachings are in denominations and churches as a whole. So many man made doctrines have caused the church to wonder away from God’s truth. So many churches are bound to these doctrines and are seeing their doors closing. In America, the rural churches are dying like flies on a hot summer day. Some of these churches are pastored by 70 and 80 year olds who hold up the old man-made doctrines. Jesus talked about one sin more than any other that would send the world to hell. That sin was religion and man-made doctrines.
9. Bringing a sacrifice of Praise: Jesus was insulted and faced cruel punishment for our sins outside the city gates of Jerusalem. His sacrifice of blood made us holy before the Lord. It removed our shame and allowed God to meet with us again on a more intimate plain. We should never stop praising the Lord for all the great things he has done for us and continues to do for us. We should bring our Praise daily to the King.
This passage of scripture is just one aspect of what believers should be doing. God’s word is important for us to follow and ensure we are following it without human interpretation. His word is simple for those who truly follow after Him.
Relevant Life 
Leave a comment